THE TEACH EEAF POISON BUSH. TREMA 

 ASPERA BLIIME: ITS OCCASIONAL TOXICITY. 



By Frank Smith, 33.8c., F.I.C, and C. T. White, F.L S. 



Read before (he Royal Society of Queensland, '2dth 

 Xovember, 1920). 



Concerning many plants recorded as poisonous or 

 injurious to stock in Australia there is much diversity of 

 opinion among stockowners. As a case in point may be 

 cited Trema aspera, common in the eastern states and 

 vaiiously known as "' Peach-leaf Poison Bush,'' "' Wild 

 Peach,' ■■ Peach Poison,' etc. This plant is regarded by 

 some as a good and safe forage plant, Init 1)}' others as one 

 of our Morst poisonous plants. 



There are numerous references to Trema as a dangerous 

 fodder in the writings of Australian botanists. The bark 

 is ver\- fibrous, and it has been held that the harmful effects 

 attributed to the plant are due to its tough and indigestible 

 nature when ingested by stock in the absence of softer and 

 more palatable feed : this especially in view of the fact that 

 the plant belongs tr> a family of j^Iants — the Ulmaceae — the 

 members of w hich as a general rule are quite wholesome and 

 free from poisonous properties. This is the opinion of 

 Bailey and Gordon i, and of Ewart^, though the latter states 

 that Ferd. von Mueller recorded the plant as poisonous. 

 Maiden ^.^ records the plant as believed poisonous by many 

 stockowners, but personally expresses no opinion on it. 

 It is referred to by Greshoff ^ as a suspected poison plant in 

 Australia. Bancroft^ states that the most caref\dly made 

 extracts of both the green and dried ])lant Mere not bitter 

 nor did the\' haxe. any effect on frogs. W. D. Francis^ 

 writing of weeds and scrub-undergrowth eaten b}' stock in 

 a south-eastern dairying district (Kin Kin) during drought 

 periods, states that Trema is extensively eaten but very fcAv 

 if any losses in the district have been caused by it. Cleland* 

 quotes Shepherd (N.S.W. Med. Gaz. 11. 1871, 74) as sajdng 

 that th^ plant is alleged poisonous to goats and cattle in 

 Queensland but though frequently eaten in Xew South \^'ale3 

 no ill effects are noticed. 



